The relationship between
God and the children of Israel was defined by a ' covenant '- ברית at Mount Horeb- Sinai. After the sin of the Golden
Calf, the covenant was renewed and ratified by means of the blessings- ברכות and the admonition – תוכחה in our parasha – Bechukotai . Lev 26..
A second covenant
was made before entering the land of Israel and ratified on Mount Grizim and
Ebal.On the last day of his
life, in Parashat Netzavim, Moses gathered all the people – old, young, men,
women, and children etc. and initiated them for the last time into the covenant
of God. The new covenant introduced the concept of collective and mutual
responsibility and accountability. People according to their degree of
influence on others and the community as a whole would be mutually responsible
and accountable for the sins of individuals and benefit from the mitzvoth – good
deeds of people.
They would only be
accountable for sins which were public or revealed and not accountable for
hidden or secret sins about which they had no knowledge.
הַנִּסְתָּרֹת--לַיהוָה, אֱלֹהֵינוּ; וְהַנִּגְלֹת לָנוּ וּלְבָנֵינוּ,
עַד-עוֹלָם--לַעֲשׂוֹת, אֶת-כָּל-דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת. The
secret things belong to the Lord our
God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever,
that we may follow all the words of this law. – Dev 29:28 . The mutual or collective responsibility and
accountability – ערבות is because the Jewish people are considered like one
body or everyone in the same boat indicating that they share a common fate and
destiny and impact one on each other. Another source for the principle of
collective responsibility is the commandment to protest or rebuke a person so
that he does not sin or continue sinning and one also disassociates himself from the sin of the
other person. Here we are dealing with open or revealed sins. While people may
not be accountable for hidden sins, for sure they have a responsibility to try
an influence people to observe God's commandments where ever they are and
support them. The word – ערבות = collective responsibility is from the letters ערב which hint that a person should be sweet and attractive to
others , involved with them and be caring and have a feeling of responsibility
for them.
The principle of
mutual responsibility – ערבות is introduced to us by the Sages from the section relating to
the curses in our parasha Bechukotai with the words - ' They will
stumble over each other ' – implying that they will stumble because of each
other , because of each other's sin.
וכשלו איש באחיו, אינו אומר איש באחיו, אלא איש
בעון אחיו, מלמד שכל ישראל ערבים זה בזה
The question is asked -
why did the Sages choose a verse from the curses which describes
Israel in exile, scattered amongst the people of the world. When
Moses speaks about the blessings for keeping the covenant he does so
collectively – there will be rain in its due season, you in the plural, will
have good harvests etc. The Sages could have introduced the concept of
collective responsibility – ערבות from the section dealing with blessings so why did they introduce
the concept in the context of the curses.
The first answer is that
mutual responsibility can characterize a people even if they are scattered in
exile and not united in their homeland. This was shown to characterize the
Jewish people during the Mendel Beillis trial in Russia where Beillis was
accused of a ritual murder, the blood libel. The prosecution tried to
incriminate Beillis from the saying of the Sages that ' Israel are called Adam-
man, but the nations of the world are not called Adam-man', implying that it
was not a problem to murder a non-Jew for religious purposes as they are not
considered people. The Rabbis offered a different explanation of the saying-
ישראל קרואים 'אדם' ואין אומות העולם קרואים 'אדם -
Israel is called man in
the singular because they display a singular collective responsibility. When
one Jew is unjustly accused of murder, they rally around him and support him
from all corners of the world. When a non-Jew is accused, only a few people from
all over the world identify with his plight.
I suggest a further
answer. The Torah seems to be giving good reasons - blessings or curses - why
we should take responsibility for others and ensure that they observe the
commandments and be loyal to the covenant. But we don't like to encourage
people and especially students to be pro-social and generous because of self-
interest and selfish reasons. But maybe ' enlightened self -interest ' might be
different. When we encourage people to be pro-social, contribute to the
community and support people's spiritual growth, everyone benefits both
materially and socially. So people have a personal interest in the welfare of
others, because they benefit too. Rabbi SR Hirsch explains the verse -
and people will stumble ' because ' of each other - וכשלו איש באחיו , that in times of fear and stress, people tend to be
concerned only about saving themselves and as a result cooperation suffers and is
missing. So even without intention people contribute to the loss of lives. בשעת אימה
–כאשר דעתו של אדם נתונה רק להצלת עצמו – תחסר כל שותפות של עשייה ,שלא במתכוון
יאבד האחד על ידי חבירו The
problem is that self – interest is materialistic and materialism separates and
disconnects people. Even if we focus on ' enlightened self- interest, the focus is still on the self. We have to promote ' altruism ', that collective and
mutual responsibility = ערבות is a value in itself. The blessing is not a
reward for people keeping the covenant and being collectively responsible for
each other. The blessings come to support our loyalty to covenant and help us
support each other. The curses and hardships come not as a punishment but to challenge the neglect of
the covenant and a belief that the only responsibility a person has is for
himself and his immediate family.
As parents and educators
we have to promote collective responsibility and altruism as a value on its own
and not to encourage pro-social behavior using extrinsic motivators, self
–interest and not even enlightened self- interest. We want kids to ask – what
type of family, classroom, school, community and society do we want.
Collective responsibility informs us about the importance of the
environment and the system for empowering people. There is a tendency in
education to focus on the individual and on promoting personal character such as self- discipline
and grit and ignoring the vital role that a supporting and nurturing
environment, plays in the lives of children. We see the importance of a sense
of belonging, positive friendships and relationships. In a sense, friends have
a more powerful influence on children than parents. The Mishna says – buy a
friend – invest in friendships – קנה חבר. Kids mirror themselves and reflect
using their friends rather than parents or teachers. Parents and teachers are
not the standards with which kids measure themselves. When kids have friends
from different generations, then older people too, can become a reference point
for kids and they begin to relate to the community as a whole and not just their
peers or school in a way which reflects collective and mutual responsibility.
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